African Trans and Intersex People Speak out

Article Date: 24 Nov, 2010

Upload Date: 30 Nov, 2010

As the transgender movement rises in Africa, with society struggling to understand the dynamics of transgenderism, Gender Dynamix and Support Initiative for People with atypical Sex Development (SIPD), recently hosted a film workshop which saw African trangender and intersex people compiling a DVD, telling their powerful stories and projecting their identities with their own words, imagery and lenses.

From Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia, participants gave faces behind the topic of transgenderism which still appears to be complicated within the LGBI community and less understood by the general society.

Due to the fact that in Africa, transgender is a complex and new topic to LGBTI movements, and that precise and harmonious definitions have not been reached, it is hoped that the DVD, titled Exquisite Gender, the DVD for transgender and intersex people of Africa, will open minds and make people in Africa and abroad know more about transgenderism.

Some of the participants were Tingy, a trans woman from Namibia, whose story was based on the violence she incurred from her country due to her gender identity. “The scars remind me of the struggle I had to go through for being me, these scars make me fearless and to stand up for myself ” Tingy said.

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